CommUNITY Alliance

STERLING HEIGHTS CommUNITY Alliance Minutes of Wednesday , June 21 , 2023 Meeting Location: City Hall Members Present: Cindy Bjornson, Sandy DelVillano-Marchi, Tatrika Graphenreed, Connie Maciejewski, Michael Mazur, Nakia Powell-Thomas Members Absent: Stacy Bahri, Rich Rubba Representing the City: Melanie Davis Meeting called to order at 6 :08 p.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES : Motion to approve the meeting minutes of the May 17, 2023 CommUNITY Alliance made by M. Mazur; Seconded by T. Graphenreed and voted all in favor. AGENDA ITEMS: A. Group Bonding Exercise – N. Powell-Thomas first provided her farewell to the group as this was her last meeting in her term. Then she ran the group through a bonding exercise called “If I Had $1,000,000.” B. Debrief of recent events – The group discussed having a tablet at every event where residents can “get connected” to the city by signing up for communications on the spot. We also discussed ordering t-shirts and/or hats for members next year so we can be identified at events. We discussed having additional food trucks at the Juneteenth event as well as a bigger stage so dancers can use it when the band isn’t (or have the performance in the middle of the pavilion between the chairs and the vendor tables vs. between the chairs and the stage). That way, everyone can see. C. Upcoming Events – We discussed having a table at Sterlingfest. M. Davis will create a sign up sheet to get involved with the CommUNITY Alliance, and Cindy will purchase items to make the disability goggles that attendees can try out. M. Davis will investigate purchasing bags that we can use at events next year as well (CA logo on them). M. Mazur is available to sit at the Sterlingfest table on Thursday and Friday, T. Graphenreed is available on Thursday, and Cindy can fill in whenever. D. Strategic Plan Review and Update for 2023-2025  a. The group agreed that the strategic plan should be the only thing on the September agenda so the group can really dig into the plan and make appropriate updates for the next few years. Other ideas brought forward included planning an event with the Youth Advisory Board (a youth human library?), expanding our new resident events to 2-3x per year, doing a “resident of the month” feature on social media (similar to Humans of New York) and hosting open mic nights or game nights in different neighborhoods). OLD BUSINESS: There was no old business at this time. NEW BUSINESS : There was no new business at this time. ADJOURNMENT : The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m. on a motion from M. Mazur and seconded by C. Maciejewski.